...maybe Ducati needs to budget less money for marketing fluff and more for development.

And yet... Ducati keeps beating their sales goals and are growing market share while Suzuki motorcycle was and still may be close to life support.

It ain't all fluff, and they've probably done more development (and delivery on the development) than most, if not all, of the Japanese manufacturers. They've studied and reacted to what the market's wanted-- expanding beyond pure sport bikes, improving reliability, and lengthening service intervals. And they've done this while still keeping their distinctive cachet. It's currently a very smart and well-run company.